Can’t face another New Year’s Eve watching other people have fun on television? Well, pop diva Mariah Carey will usher out the decade in glamorous style with her New Year’s Eve concert at Madison Square Garden. Carey, whose 18 No. 1 singles rank her second on the all-time list (the Beatles are tops with 20), has only one other concert on her current schedule. It takes place Jan. 2 at 8 p.m. at the Event Center at Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City. Carey released a new album, “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel,” in September and has received glowing reviews for her role in the new movie “Precious.” She doesn’t tour very often, so this might be the last chance to see the Long Island native onstage for a while.

Tickets for the Atlantic City show (1 Borgata Way, Atlantic City) are $165-$235; call (866) 900-4849 or visit TheBorgata.com. Tickets for the Madison Square Garden show (Seventh Avenue and 32nd Street, New York) are $20-$175.75, with VIP packages available from $425 to $1,000; the top package includes prime seating, a pre-show dinner and champagne reception, access to a VIP entrance, party favors and other extras. Call (800) 745-3000 or visit Ticketmaster.com or TheGarden.com.

— Jay Lustig

JAZZ

Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour
McCarter Theatre Center

For the jazz fan on your holiday list, ducats to a solid show work equally well as a main package or a stocking stuffer. This year, the Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour provides such an oppurtunity, presenting a welcome array of talent that will appeal not only to jazz fans, but to those less familiar with this engaging music. The concert — set for Feb. 17, 8 p.m., at the Matthews Theatre at McCarter Theatre Center, 91 University Place, Princeton — stars piano master Kenny Barron, one of the most lyrical and rhythmic artists playing modern jazz. Violinist Regina Carter (pictured) is an expressive artist comfortable in anything from swing to modern sounds. Guitarist Russell Malone is acclaimed as one of the top proponents on his instrument, and singer Kurt Elling can handle anything from wailing blues to crooning ballads. No doubt, these formidable artists will mix things up, offering a host of styles and grooves breathing with life, lending the kind of feeling that lights up the bandstand, and the audience as well, sending all home happy. Tickets are $41-$52. Call (609) 258-2787 or visit mccarter.org.

— Zan Stewart

CLASSICAL

Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony
New Jersey Performing Arts Center

Who better to bring out the intense emotion of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony than Valery Gergiev (pictured), who brings his Mariinsky Orchestra to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in March? Known as one of the most exciting conductors in the world for his sweeping, impassioned interpretations, Gergiev is also widely noted for his commitment to Russian music. He leads a three-week festival with the New York Philharmonic in April, “The Russian Stravinsky,” but the NJPAC show is a rare opportunity to hear him in the Garden State with his own musicians.

Fate, romance and drama color the music of this symphony. Melodies linger, including a poignant, songlike horn solo that becomes a highlight of the second movement. The work was written at a time when Tchaikovsky believed he might be finished, or “written out,” and if his inner torment can be heard, so too can his vigorous triumph.

The concert also includes Berlioz’ “Royal Hunt” and “Storm” from “Les Troyens,” and Introduction, Ball, Adagio, Scherzo, and March to the Grave from “Romeo and Juliet.”

The performance takes place March 12 at 8 p.m., NJPAC Prudential Hall, 1 Center St., Newark. Tickets are $29-$118, available at njpac.org or (888) 466-5722.